We have such incredibly blue skies here today - fantastic. Though I've been in the kitchen most of the morning for bread, cake making and cleaning.
Thank you to Karen,sft,Trudie and Pam for messages left and for the commiserations re the loss of all the Ash Trees. We planted them in Jan 2011 so that whoever lived here in 30 years time would have fuel. Ash are best for burning as the can be coppiced and they re-grow from the base, plus the wood can be used green in necessary. They were OK the first year then looked very sad last year, we thought at first it was just the weather. Then came the bombshell news that a disease had spread here from Eastern Europe and attacks both young and older trees. Being on the East coast we are straight in the firing line for the spores. There are a huge amount of large mature Ash trees in Suffolk and it is going to have a devastating effect on the countryside. Larger trees take longer to die so we are shall be keeping a watch on the mature trees we have in the boundary hedge.The young saplings will be pulled up and burnt. We have no idea what we will fill the empty spaces with. Thankfully the 25 Hazel and 25 Silver birch plus the mix of other trees we planted 10 years ago are all looking OK.
Now I must go and sort out what I need for tomorrow for my long day out - 15 hours sitting in a village hall with someone I have never met ! not a busy village so I doubt we will see many people. I have letters to write, a puzzle book, book and papers to read so should survive the day but it always takes me about 3 days to recover. ( On my way to training yesterday I noticed a poster for another Car boot on Saturday morning - so we might get to 3 this weekend - that should keep us busy!)
